


Apoc

by Redgrave_Writer



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apocalypse, Fantasy, Pandemics, Science Fiction, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redgrave_Writer/pseuds/Redgrave_Writer





	Apoc

The end of the human race had come long ago; people just refused to believe that only because there were enough of us left to stay off the endangered species list we loved to parade around. The disease that managed to get loose from an unlicensed research facility in China had turned most of the human race into creatures that did nothing but hunger for flesh. There was a percentage of the populous that was naturally immune to the mind destroying effects, but these lucky few were hit even harder when they discovered that a large percentage of survivors were rendered infertile due to still being a carrier for the disease. The scientists responsible for creating this horrifying pandemic called it a “built-in safety net should it be needed for warfare”, the ‘Smart Virus’ they called it. The spread was slow at first, just a few cities here and there that were immediately “quarantined” according to world governments. At first the world was shocked to see whole cities put to flame, but eventually it became a weekly sight. In less than 9 months the human population went from over eight billion to fewer than two billion, a number that has been slowly dropping ever since. As time went on and humanity was regaining a foothold against the disease, it decided that humans could no longer be its sole focus if it were to survive, so it evolved. Plants started turning sickly colors and would secrete a foul-smelling black ooze if cut. The way the plants grew even began to change, most trees began blooming large purple flowers that sent up clouds of pollen at the slightest touch (this is widely believed to be the time the virus became airborne), and fruit bearing plants began bearing sacs of gelatinous compounds that were inedible. Food was no longer an easy thing to grow, animals no longer raised to slaughter. What farms did exist had to triple filter water, just to keep the disease from killing the plants. Frankly, it’s astounding that the human race has limped this far at all.

“Zander!”

The shout brings Zander out of his million-mile stare, reminding him that reality, is in fact, still happening.

“What do you want Dredger?” Zander replies without moving his eyes from where they had been for an unknown amount of time.

“Dude, the whole town has been looking for you. How long have you been up there?”

“What does it matter how long I’ve been up here?” Zander replies snidely as he jumps down from his roof “and what makes you think I care about this town?”

“Because it’s who you are, and believe it or not, we need to stay united if we are gonna make it through this . . .”

“There is no getting through this! How can you not see that this is it?!” Zander screams at the top of his lungs, his fists balled and in the air “How do you expect us to get over this? How . . .” Zander’s rant is cut short as Dredger grabs him by the collar and lifts him up.

“I know you just lost your girl, but that is no reason to lose hope! This town still needs you!”

“Yea, well maybe they needed Natili too! Maybe the town needed _her_ more!” Zander shoots, dropping his hands wearily. “Maybe I needed her more than the town did . . .” he falters.

Dredger puts him back down on his feet, but Zander promptly sinks straight to the ground.

“Alright Zander, I’ll bite, what’s this really about?”

“It’s just . . .” his voice trails off as he traces lines in the dirt.

“It’s just what, Zander?! Out with it.”

“I was gonna make her my wife, and to make matters harder . . . Natili was . . . tested . . . she could have carried my baby, Dredger. She was immune . . . completely. The woman I loved . . . love . . . I could have been one of the lucky ones. A family Dredger, that’s what I lost . . .” tears streaming down his face, speckling the dirt with dark spots.

“I’m so sorry Zander, I didn’t know you guys decided to get tested.”

“I didn’t, not yet at least. Now I’m not even sure I want to know.” He drops to his back on the ground with a sigh and stares at the sky, his eyes lingering on a lonely white cloud, drifting to nowhere particular.

Dredger turns his back to Zander and starts to speak “I’m truly sorry for your loss, to lose a woman like Natili is a travesty, positive test or not. She was a good friend. And so are you Zander. So please, get your head right. We need you back.” With that Dredger walks off.

“What if my head never gets right?” Zander whispers to no one, his eyes still lost in the lone cloud “What if I’m broken?”

Dredger walks into the middle of town, not really headed anywhere. He stops at stares at the front gate to the town, watching as men scurry up and down ladders, repairing the damage that lingered from the last attack. He did miss Natili, he just hadn’t realized quite how much till he saw Zander. Something needed to be done to end this madness. The attacks were coming more often, and their defenses were weakening. It wouldn’t be long till they ended up like Threzza, a rundown hole filled with those forsaken things.

Dredger slowly found his way back to his forge, just next to the junk yard. He sat down at his desk, pulled out some loose paper and began to doodle aimlessly. When he finished, he looked down at what he had drawn to find blueprints for two identical suits of armor. He tapped the eraser of his pencil on the paper as he contemplated just how long it would take to make them.

Zander sits at the bar staring into the bottom of his glass, watching the last of his beer foam bubble into a sad little puddle. The bartender walks by him and gives him a bit of a look. He grabs a pitcher and refills Zander’s glass. His hand starts to float towards his pocket to pay the bartender for the refill.

“Don’t worry about it buddy, that one is on the house. We all miss Natili.” The bartender says.

“Thanks Frank.” Zander mumbles before he takes a deep drink. He wishes people would stop telling him that “They all miss her” and that they “know how he is feeling”. He was done with this whole world, Natili was his one shining light at the end of this tunnel and those . . . monsters snuffed it out. He downs the rest of the beer and stumbles out of the bar into the light. He throws his hand in front of his face as the scorching sun glares down at him.

He staggers his way to the city wall, climbs up the stairs to the rampart, and stares out over the sun baked land. At all the creatures stumbling their way across the ground towards the little town.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tattered photo and stares into Natili’s emerald green eyes. A tear rolls off his cheek and lands on the picture. He wipes it off the photo and stuffs it back in his pocket.

He takes one last look at the desert and climbs up on the wall and looks down at the mass of zombies clawing at the wall in a futile attempt to get in. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He heard the creatures rile up as they catch his sent. He leans forward and feels the rush of air as he starts to fall.

Zander’s breath gets knocked out of him as he suddenly jerks to a stop, his shirt gripping his throat tight.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this that easy!” Dredger’s deep voice comes from above him.

“You bastard! Let me go!” Zander flails.

“Nope, now up ya come.” Dredger says as he hefts Zander back up onto the rampart.

“It’s my choice dammit! And if I w . . oof!”

Zander gets cut short as Dredger slams him into the wall. “Look, I get it, but I’m done trying to talk you out of this. All I can do is stop you. Maybe one day I will miss something, and you’ll get what you want. Till then I will always have an eye on you.”

“But . .”

“Nope, shut up and follow me. I have a project you can help me with. Maybe it will even take your mind off things.”

Zander huffs and motions for Dredger to lead.

“Good choice. Let’s go.” Dredger says as he walks past Zander and makes towards his junkyard.

Zander leans against a burned-out shell of a car as he looks over Dredgers rough blueprints. He scoffs and gazes at Dredger with a skeptical face. “You have to be kidding me. This is a joke, right?”

“Why would it be a joke? Those are possible. These could help us prevent more loss. Think of how much easier it would be to fix the walls.”

“But they look like they are straight out of a comic book Dredger. You really think this would work?”

“Would it really hurt to try?”

“Alright Dredger, we’ll try your little plan, but only because I’m curious to see if it will actually work.”

“Fine, but the next time you order supplies from Methesda make sure that you get extra acetylene for my welding torch. And I mean a lot of extra.”

“Dredger . . . you know as well as I do, that we aren’t exactly a wealthy village. Methesda has natural gases. Heracese has huge farms, they support half the country. Hell, even Threzza had the mines. What do we have? What does Trent have to offer the world?”

“Cars . . .”

“I wish! We have car _parts_ , Dredger. _Used_ car parts. _Rusty_ used Car parts. We aren’t exactly the most ‘In demand’ place on the map.”

“I know, Zander, I know. Could you at least do your best to get me more?”

“Yes, I will try. I just won’t make any promises.” Zander hands Dredger his plans back “let’s just hope a truck broke down in Methesda in the last week.”

“It’s fine, it will take a while to gather everything I need for these anyway. Hopefully we have some sort of treds tucked away in the junk yard.”

“Just don’t let this overshadow the things that the city needs done. This is a side project only.”

“Yea, yea. I got it.”

“Ok, I have to look over lists of supplies and see what we can swing, and I will do my best to fit in the acetylene. See ya later Dredger. Catch up at the bar?”

“Yea.”

Zander turns and walks off.

Dredger walks to his work bench and tosses the papers down. “This should be a priority. Without these, we may not make it another season. If I could make more, it would put us on the map too.” He grabs a clipboard off the wall “Time to fill orders then I guess.”

Zander sighs and runs his hands through his hair. This paperwork would be the death of him. Stein wants to man a team to go to Threzza and set up a mining base for Trent. Impossible. Not enough manpower to keep something like that running. Sarana wants to expand the wall outwards to make room for more farm works. Plausible, but difficult. Trent needs a new wall anyway. Mounting reports of a man in black that disappears as fast as he appears has most of the city uncomfortable. Could just be people’s nerves on edge from the recent attack.

“Ugh. What a mess.” Zander groans.

“I know, just sift through it.” A man across the table mumbles.

“You ever ask yourself ‘why us’ George?”

“Every day Zan, but people don’t end up in power by accident. Some rise to the occasion during struggle, those people get looked to, to lead. Most people can only follow.” George sighs “well, looks like we have run out on our stone quarry.” He waves a paper over his head “So much for the wall repair.” He waves a different paper in his other hand.

“Dammit.”

“What Zander?”

“Gimme a sec. I have an idea!” Zander jumps up from his chair and runs to a filing cabinet. He rifles through the top drawer and pulls out a file. He walks back to the table reading the file. “This could work. How much can our oil pump yield?”

“A couple of drums a week. Wanna tell me what you’re thinking?”

“Yea, do we still have enough gear and men to distil that into diesel?”

“Probably. Why Zander?”

“Ok, Stein wants to take a group out to Threzza to establish our own mine, which at this point it sounds like we need. If the men from our quarry are freed from work that would give us just enough people to pull that off. Now if we start distilling fuel, Dredger can fix up our Semi-truck and we have transport for men and then ore and stone. Now, Sarana wants to extend the wall for farming. Normally it would be a huge task, but Dredger is working on some things that would make it a two person task. Then we can have an inner _and_ an outer wall, as well as enough crops to support an extra settlement. For the first time we might be able to give everyone what they want.” Zander slaps the file down with an ear to ear grin.

“Hmpf, see Zander, you answered your own question. This is ‘why us’.”

Zander leans back in his chair triumphantly. “I guess so.”

“Alright, you want to organize the meeting?”

“Psh. After I came up with the plan? I don’t think so. You can get it together while I go tell Dredger to bump up the priority on his little project.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that. I’ll get on it.” George gets up from his seat and walks out of the room.

“Dredger is going to have a field day with this one. I should probably go with the team for the initial set up. Let’s get on the map again.”

Zander leans on a podium watching people filter into the auditorium that served as town hall.

“Alright everybody, orderly fashion. Come on, this isn’t the first time we’ve done this.” Zander mumbles into the mic. “Okay, everyone here? Everyone comfortable? Good, let’s get started. It has come to our attention that we have some problems that need to be solved rather rapidly. First off, the stone quarry has officially run dry.” Gasps and worried murmuring emanate from the crowd “Not to worry, we have come up with a plan that will put an end to most of our problems. It seems that due to the quarry being shut down, we have an abundance of manpower, and nowhere to use it. I mean to re-open the oil field, for the time being everyone will pull double shifts there until Dredger can get our semi-truck running again. At which time, I will organize a party to take to Threzza, where Stein will be in charge of setting up operations to start our own mine.”

“Isn’t Threzza overrun?”

“That sounds like a suicide mission!”

A barrage of worried comments continue until Zander raises his hand and silence again reigns.

“Yes, it will be a dangerous task, but with our quarry empty it, is a necessary one. Now, once Trent gets its first load from the Threzza mine, Sarana is charged with the development of an outer secondary wall.” Zander raises his had again as murmurs start to rise. He looks to Dredger, who was leaning on the wall with a sour look on his face. “Yes, a wall is a huge undertaking. However, Dredger has been working on a project that should have this wall complete in just a few months, which will allow us to expand our farm works. Which of course means more food!”

This time the noise that ensued was excitement instead of worry. Zander let them have this moment before he continued.

“This will be a difficult time for Trent, have no mistakes about that. But I believe we can make it through this if we all work together.


End file.
